They've got new 3 packs, five packs, and seven packs of these Godzilla movies, but I zeroed in on the three pack, which happily does not include the American Godzilla movie and only includes GODZILLA TOKYO SOS, GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA (the '70s version), and SON OF GODZILLA, none of which I own in any format.

Last night I watched TOKYO SOS, and my god what a terrible movie. I had high hopes, all of which were dramatically let down pretty quickly. Basically a remake of the same director's previous effort, GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA (the recent one, not the old one...I think I'll call it GVM 3 to differentiate between the 70s and 90s versions). In some ways, it is an improvement -- the story is a bit more interesting, the addition of more monsters is welcome -- but in terms of the big G himself it is a disappointment.

The biggest problem with TOKYO SOS is Godzilla. He has no personality here, the rubber suit for this movie appears to hard as to allow very, very little movement and no facial expressions whatsoever. The eyes are also much less expressive than in previous suits. Most of the monster fights look tragically like someone has set a Bandai Godzilla action figure on the set and fired missiles at it. The lower jaw of this Godzilla is especially distracting, too thin, and flopping open like it's a piece of cardboard on a string.

The suit is so stiff it seems they rarely would shoot him falling, never shoot getting back up. In one scene, Mothra grabs him by the head and pulls him along. He is pulled as if wearing rollerblades, sliding along the ground, which looks silly enough. Then, the scene cuts, and we see Godzilla completely on the ground, sliding head first into a bridge. It's a good shot, but we never see Godzilla fall over so I was just left scratching my head. The next shot, he is standing, all Bandai action figure-like, ready for more missiles to be hurled. Most of the action moments in the film are lifted from other, better Godzilla films.

It gets worse. Where is Godzilla's roar? It can be heard one time in the movie -- that's it. Instead he makes other, non-Godzilla like noises.

The suit design must take much of the blame, the actor working the suit a bit more, and the director gets the rest.

I was particularly struck by the poor direction in a scene toward the end of the film, when a mothra worm is shooting its sticky thread at Godzilla while MechaG stands idly by. Because MechaG and Mothra are near each other, the long shot looks hilariously like MechaG is taking a whiz on Godzilla. Needless to say, no director in their right mind would frame a shot so poorly.

There are some good moments in this Godzilla movie, but not nearly enough. G V. M 3 was, I thought, the worst of the Millennium Godzilla films. This one might be even worse.

GMK, meanwhile, stands as one of the best. GMK is the one people will be returning to over and over again, while the others collect dust. Letting different directors revision Godzilla to make their own movie is the way to keep the big G alive for years to come. They did it with GMK and with the upcoming FINAL WAR. Too bad Toho is also once again deciding to end it altogether, yet again. Oh, well.

Before going to bed I threw in GODZILLA v. MECHAGODZILLA 1, which is part of the three pack. Widescreen, beautiful print, in Japanese with English subs, as well as the international english dub if you want it. Just the first twenty minutes have more energy, excitement, and creative action than TOKYO SOS in its entirety. Looking forward to finishing the rest up tonight.

-- Peter

Peter, you're breakin' my heart here.

I loved both TOKYO SOS and GODZILLA X MECHAGODZILLA (2002, or GVM3 in Peter's timeline) and thought they were the best G films since GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA (1993, or GVM2). I reacted very badly to GMK (2001).

I did a post on TOKYO SOS back on 9/4 on the old Mobius. I found it and am going to paste it below. Following that will be excerpts from notes I typed for myself on G. X MECHAGODZILLA and GMK. (I resisted the impulse to polish or edit my notes. The excerpts are in their raw form.)



Original post on TOKYO SOS:

9/4/04
TOKYO SOS a triumph! Best Godzilla film in 11 years…

Seeing TOKYO SOS at the Film Forum (NYC) on the last night of the theater’s Godzilla fest (tonight) was easily one of the best big-screen Godzilla experiences I’ve ever had. Excellent movie and a really appreciative enthusiastic audience. I have to say it’s the best G film, for me, since GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA (1993). The special effects and miniatures are the best I’ve seen in a Godzilla movie—ever. Mothra has never looked better. Just astounding. Godzilla and Mecha-G both move very well. (I have quibbles about the Godzilla suit, but I’ll skip them for now.) Spectacular scenes of urban destruction. Just wait till you see what happens to...well, I’ll keep it a surprise.

The monster battles started about a half-hour in and never let up. There was action and suspense all the way. I liked that there were a lot of young people in it as the pilots and crew attached to MechaGodzilla. Good actors and actresses, too, and interesting characters. Not a nitwit in the bunch. A new generation of Godzilla fighters/admirers. And there’s a multi-generational effort as well. Hiroshi Koizumi turns up in the same role he played in MOTHRA back in 1961. (Several audible exclamations of recognition from the audience.) And the Fairies are back, played, of course, by different actresses, but meant to be the same twin fairies we saw back in the original MOTHRA. There is even a brief early flashback consisting of two shots from that film. (Other Godzilla films are flashed back to as well.)

The plot, however, is not terribly intricate. There really was a need for a substantial subplot, maybe a little more drama involving the young pilots and crew members. That whole element could have been developed more. The roots were there. But, it’s still a vast improvement over the last few Godzilla movies (from G2000 on), although I have to confess I have yet to see 2002’s GODZILLA X MECHAGODZILLA, which really should be seen first, because TOKYO SOS is a direct sequel to that film. I had planned to see it last night at the Film Forum, but it was playing one day only and I had to stay at work late and missed it. I do have it on DVD and will try to watch it this weekend.

Amidst the usual smattering of fanboy applause, the crowd let out some genuine, heartfelt applause at key points and responded most enthusiastically at the end. And everyone was abuzz talking about it afterwards. The movie was clearly a crowd-pleaser. It would be a mistake for Sony(?) not to give this a general theatrical release.

Is it as good as the 1990s GAMERA films? No. But it comes close. And since GAMERA I (1995) and GAMERA III (1999) are, along with the original GOJIRA, arguably the finest kaiju films ever made, coming close is pretty damned good.


10/4/04
GODZILLA X MECHAGODZILLA (2002) 88 min.
Watched this on DVD last night. It’s one of the best Godzilla movies I’ve seen in a long time. Almost as good as TOKYO SOS. The two really should have been seen one after the other. SOS really is a direct sequel. These two are light years better than the previous three G movies.
X MECHAGODZILLA reminded me of the recent GAMERA movies because of the way it was shot. A kind of realistic style, as if the monster battles were being filmed as they were happening.


12/22/02
GODZILLA, MOTHRA AND KING GHIDORAH:
GIANT MONSTERS ALL OUT ATTACK
(2001 release) Region 3 DVD purchased at Lai Ying on 12/19/02

All in all, this one’s pretty bad. Directed by Shusuke Kaneko, it has none of the power of the Gamera films. The human characters are so insipid and the dialogue so bad that the well-shot monster battles don’t help. And the whole premise is that G hasn’t appeared in Japan since 1954, although he has appeared in America at end of last century, a ref to the U.S. GODZILLA (1998), while ignoring all previous films.
Only two main characters, Yuri, a nitwit TV reporter for a tabloid fake “Sightings”-type show and her father Admiral Tachibana (how convenient). It’s just sloppy scriptwriting. There’s lots of mumbo jumbo about the other monsters being sacred beasts, guardian monsters or whatever. And they’re revived to protect Japan from Godzilla. (Actually they’re revived because idiot people knock over the shrine statues guarding them.) Admiral T, or was it the mysterious old man, says G was formed from or activated by the souls of all who died in Pacific War. What hogwash.
Yuri is on-camera talent for Digital Q, a show that fabricates paranormal phenomena.
To make long story short she rides around on a bike transmitting the images through digital cam attached to her laptop. Is that all you have to do? So why not send TV reporters out alone?

[SNIP]

PROS:
Great monster battle with Baragon
Some great shots of fights in Tokyo with Mothra flying over and attacking G.
Japanese female naval officer looks like Maggie Cheung.

CONS:
The three guest star monsters parts are too small, especially Baragon, who is the most interesting.
Poor script. Very badly and sloppily written.
Main character is a real nitwit.
Her father’s an old-fashioned militarist
Too much that’s implausible. She rides bike, shoots on digicam and webcasts.
Hogwash/mumbo jumbo about sacred guardian beasts and stones as CDs and sounds of war victims in G.
Completely ignores all previous movies except Sony’s Godzilla This is an insult.
Mothra and King Ghidorah both largely done with CGI and not men in monster suits.

Whoa. Clearly, we are on opposite sides in the Millennium Series Godzilla debate. The only thing for it is to don rubber suits and have it out, Kaiju a Kaiju. I don't know about you, but I'll be zipping up in the near meltdown GODZILLA V. DESTROYAH suit; still my favorite. I may explode, but it'll be a hellova fight until then.

To be honest, I'm very sympathetic to your review of GMK. I actually sort of felt the same way when seeing it for the first time. But I ended up revisiting the film, not once but twice, and I've come to love it. This might not hold true for you, but this was what happened. For me, it was impossible to see the film for what it was the first time I saw it, because I was so hopelessly loaded down with preconceptions. I wanted it to fit in Godzilla continuity, it didn't. I wanted something like the Gamera movies, it wasn't. And so on.

The second time I watched it, I could watch the film for what it was. And enjoyed it quite a bit. I found a lot to like in the militaristic dad the second time around, his character says alot about the Strategic Defense Force that Japan has, and the sense of helplessness that goes with it.

It's been a while now since I've seen it, but watching TOKYO SOS has made me want to throw it in again. Who knows? Maybe you'll have another LITTLE DRAGON MAIDEN moment. Or, you'll be like, "no, that dude's on crack." Hard to say.

On the other hand, I'm sure I would have liked TOKYO SOS more if I had seen it on the big screen. On DVD, the scenes of devestation are unremarkable. GvDESTROYAH is one of my favorite G films, probably partially because I got to see it on the big screen when it was released in Japan. Godzilla is made for the movies, not for TV.

There were some elements I liked in TOKYO SOS, but on the whole the thing just didn't work for me. After humans suited up in MOGERA in GvMEGAGUIRAS, then MechaG in GXM (thanks for reminding me, they put an "X" instead of a "V" in this one, so it's a totally different title!), and now MechaG again, well.

All of the Mothra worm business, including the Diet building, just kept reminding me of the old, much superior GODZILLA V. THE THING.

Then, there's the Christian symbolism in TOKYO SOS. What's that, you say? No, I'm serious. In the end, the fairies go on about leaving souls in peace, while behind them, a large cross. Later, as they leave (into the sunset), each raises a hand, so that together they form a cross. What is this all about? My take -- MOTHRA has died for our sins, then is resurrected as a worm, who then ascends to Infant island. The new sermon on the mount sounds something like this, "EEEE--EEEE--EEEE"

-- Peter

I promise I'll give GMK another try. (I've always intended to, I even meant to see it when it was screened in NYC this past season, but couldn't get to it.)

To be fair to Masaaki Tezuka, the director of TOKYO SOS (and GXMG), the "Christian" symbolism was in Honda's original MOTHRA (1961)...

The last time I saw the original MOTHRA was on an unsubbed videotape I rented in Japan about 10 years ago. SONY is filling in all the gaps for the previously unreleased Godzilla movies. Now it's time for the rest! Where's the DVDs of MOTHRA, MONSTER ZERO, RODAN (a decent one, anyway), BARAGON, VARAN, & etc? What a pleasure those will be. Too impatient, I know.

I didn't remember Christian symbolism in the original MOTHRA. I suppose, it's better than the "save the earth" eco-message of the 90s MOTHRA movies. A punch in the eye is better than the 90s MOTHRA movies, though.

-- Peter

I don't know how much further Sony is going to go with "restoring" MOTHRA; the footage they were restoring, was placing original Japanese footage that was cut from the original US release prints... This past summer, Sony Repetory produced a beautiful and uncut Japanese version with English subtitles, which was screened at the Film Forum in NYC and at our Godzillafest at the Castro Theater in San Francisco. Sony Repetory has done the same for GODZILLA VS. THE SEA MONSTER (1966) and SON OF GODZILLA (1967), and is planning to do the same with THE H-MAN (1958) and BATTLE IN OUTER SPACE (1959). The hopes are to put these three films (MOTHRA, BATTLE and H-MAN) out on DVD in the near future. SON OF GODZILLA was just released, with SEA MONSTER on its way in Feb. 2005. Sony will also be releasing the 1993 MECHAGODZILLA film at the same time.

MONSTER ZERO (1965) and RODAN (1956) were owned by Henry G. Saperstein's UPA, which was sold a few years ago to Classic Media. CM also has the DVD rights to the original GODZILLA (both Japanese and Burr versions), GODZILLA VS. THE THING (1964), FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD (1965), WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS (1966), GODZILLA'S REVENGE (1969), TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA (1975), LAKE OF DRACULA (1972), EVIL OF DRACULA (1974), LAST DAYS OF PLANET EARTH (1974)... and they recently secured the rights to GIGANTIS THE FIRE MONSTER (the US version of GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN, 1955) and GHIDRAH THE THREE-HEADED MONSTER (1964) from Toho... this was straight from the horse's mouth. CM has already announced plans for a double DVD of the Japanese and US versions of the original GODZILLA. Pray for rain...

The mark of Mothra -- which is shown throughout the film (and in TOKYO SOS) -- is implied to be the roots of Christianity. This is cemented when Kyoko Kagawa hears the church bells in the New Kirk City square, and says it sounds like the same melody that the twin faeries sing... Frankie Sakai and Hiroshi Koizumi look up at the cross on top of the steeple, and the sun is shinning through it. They exclaim it looks just like Mothra's symbol found on Infant Island, and Sakai says, "...just like The Cross!" Please check out the film again.

As for VARAN (1958), Toho is releasing the film on R2 DVD next month, and Media Blasters has already secured the R1 DVD rights for North America, along with THE MYSTERIANS (1956), MATANGO (1963) and DOGORA (1964)... all of these DVDs will be the original Japanese versions with English subtitles, and are presumably mastered from Toho Videos DVD elements. THE MYSTERIANS is supposed to hit North American shops in Feb. 2005.

Last year or so I did a comparison of the two versions of MOTHRA (1961)--the dubbed U.S. release and the original Japanese cut. The Christian symbols were among the shots cut from the U.S. release.

I don't want to be contradictory, but these were not the scenes cut... what was cut were, the first part of the scene where Hiroshi Koizumi finds the cave with the vampire plants... the second song by The Peanuts, where they are dressed in Japanese Kimono (singing "The Maidens of Infant Island")... some special effects shots (a dolly shot of a tank with a less-than-real-looking soldier sitting in the turret hatch, and a brief sequence of the larvae smashing through Shibuya Station, and encountering some tanks in a narrow street)... a shot of Frankie Sakai trying to imitate the Stations of The Cross (very funny crowd reaction for this one)... and I think that's it.

Perhaps there's about three minutes total, cut from the US verison, but the "Christian" symbolism is intact in the US version -- MOTHRA is one of my favorites of the early Toho Fantasy Films, and so I would have noticed if any of the "Christian" symbolism was cut from the US version... At least to the best of my memory.

August, thank you very much for the info on the upcoming DVD releases! Looks like I'll have to save up my lunch money...

But it is a little bit disheartening that CLASSIC MEDIA owns the rights to so many of them, given the poor presentation of the ones so far released on DVD.

As for the Mothra/Christ thing; it just begs further analysis. For example, perhaps this the "star" the wise men followed. It may have simply been Mothra, perhaps using her magic dust attack.

-- Peter

LOL! To hell with the gifts from the three wisemen, give me The Peanuts! ;)

August, d'you know if all the recent US DVD releases of the pre-millennium Godzilla films have used the same masters as the Toho DVD's?

No. Some are combinations of elements from both the original Japanese prints and the so-called "International Versions"... Sony had Toho create a new "Toho" logo, which is much better than what they had been using, but the opening credits are those of the International Versions. SON OF GODZILLA contains the same title credits, but in a new rendering, to make them look less hand-made...

Regarding Tokyo SOS and GxMG, I disliked both of them and agree with Peter. I simply couldn'y buy into the whole gentic computer and that MechaG was thinking for it's self. Some of the editing also seemed pretty shoddy.

However I can't wait until you guys get a look at Godzilla:Final Wars. The reviews the film has gotten in Godzilla fandom are pretty jaw dropping. While I enjoyed G:FW, it was lacking one of my favorite hallmarks of kaiju films: the monster's Grand Entrance!